Portrait of a man

Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, who collaborated with Leonardo on the Virgin of the Rocks altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in Milan, created this work around 1490, now in the Uffizi Gallery. Portrait painting emerged as a major genre during the fifteenth century, reflecting the growing emphasis on individual identity and the secular confidence of the merchant and aristocratic classes.

Careful attention to physiognomic detail and costume textures distinguishes this portrait, with the sitter rendered against a controlled background that focuses attention on facial features and expression.